The production of tar pitches and binding agents for the manufacture of high-quality carbon materials is considered. The progressive scarcity of coal-tar pitch is noted. The necessity of a search for new sources of raw materials and alternative methods for the production of coal-tar pitch substitutes is substantiated. The capabilities of different methods for the thermal and thermochemical processing of coals with the production of pitch-like products are considered. The prospects of a low-temperature process of the thermal dissolution of coals under mild conditions for the preparation of pitch products in a yield much higher that the yield of pitch upon coking are demonstrated.

The chemical composition, structural and plastometric properties of different-ranked coals from Mongolia deposits were studied. The non-isothermal iso-conversion Ozawa–Flynn–Wall and Friedman model-free methods were used to assess kinetic parameters and to differentiate decomposition steps. Key peculiarities of the pyrolysis kinetics of brown and bituminous coals were revealed and discussed in terms of the composition and plastometric properties. Brown coal was shown to undergo three decomposition steps with ever increasing activation energy as temperature increased because of the decomposition of thermally more and more stable molecular fragments. The pyrolysis of bituminous coals occurred in four steps, the activation energy having extreme mode of temperature dependence. An important new finding was that the temperature range of the second, major pyrolysis step well corresponded to that between the softening and re-solidification temperatures according to Gieseler plastometry. The yield and composition of the pyrolysis products obtained under isothermal conditions were also characterized depending on coal rank and temperature, and the ways for qualified utilizations were offered.

The formation of the crystalline structure and textural properties of zirconia during the thermal activation of a hydroxide precursor with additives of tungstate anions at temperatures of 600–870°C has been studied. It has been found that, in the application of the different methods of mixing (coprecipitation or impregnation) of tungstate anions and zirconium hydroxide in the amount of more than 12.9 mol %, a dispersed phase of tetragonal zirconia having a mesoporous structure with a pore size of 7–8 nm is formed during thermal treatment. The catalytic activity of Pt/WO₄ ²⁻/ZrO₂ in the isomerization of n-hexane and n-heptane depends in a nonmonotonic mode on the concentration of tungstate anions. In both reactions at a low temperature, high yields of isomers with a selectivity of at least 87% are achieved on the catalyst that has been prepared by impregnation and contains 17.6 mol % WO₄ ²⁻.

The composition and chemical and physicochemical properties of different brown coals as raw materials for deep thermochemical processing were considered. The effect of the modifying treatments of coals on their properties was studied. Correlation relationships between the calcium content of coals and the structure characteristics and reactivity of the organic matter were established. It was found that coals with an increased calcium content were characterized by a dense rigid supramolecular structure and low activity on hydrogenation in hydrogen-donor solvents. In contrast to this, calcium compounds exerted a considerable catalytic effect on the reaction rate and the composition of the resulting gaseous products in high-temperature oxidative processing (oxidative destruction in air and steam gasification).